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[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2017.06.30 - 2017.07.02

"Anarchist from Colony", "Real", and Bong Joon-ho's "Okja" put local films back on top...

Lee Je-hoon plays colonial-era independence activist Park Yeol in Lee Joon-ik's new drama, "Anarchist from Colony". Lee's eleventh film opened at number one with 817,684 admissions (48.94%) from 1,176 screens around the country, dislodging Michael Bay's "Transformers: The Last Knight" and denying it a second weekend at the top. Park Yeol (1902-1974) was an anarchist who spent 22 years in prison for attempting to assassinate Japanese royalty, Emperor Hirohito.

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Last weekend's number one, the fifth "Transformers" film, had it screens slashed from 1,727 to 893, from which it captured 21.97% of the sales. With the 355,985 admissions earned over the weekend, "The Last Knight"'s bottom line in Korea now moves to $17.4 million (2.4 million admissions); worldwide, Bay's final "Transformers" film has grossed nearly half a billion dollars.

Lee Sa-rang's directorial debut, "Real", an action noir starring Kim Soo-hyun, was the highest local feature with 165,008 admissions (9.85%) from 859 screens. And despite the current screening controversy surrounding "Okja" (starring Tilda Swinton, Ahn Seo-hyun), Bong Joon-ho's science-fiction English-language film (produced by Netflix) still managed to make an impact in the charts: from just 111 screens, "Okja" grabbed nearly 5% of the box office pie (82,886 admissions).

Alex Kurtzman's re-imagining of "The Mummy" (with Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, and Sofia Boutella) enjoyed two weekends at the top of the chart when it was released in early June; since then, however, "The Mummy" has given way to other summer blockbusters like "The Last Knight". In its fourth weekend out, "The Mummy" claimed 2.45% (40,562 admissions) to move its total admissions count to 3.6 million ($26.4 million); "The Mummy" is now the fourth highest-grossing film of the year between "Fast and Furious 8" (3.6 million admissions) and "Beauty and the Beast" (5.1 million admissions).

Jo Seon-ho's directorial debut "A Day - 2017" (Kim Myung-min and Byun Yo-han) fell four places and settle in sixth with 35,367 admissions (2.11%) from 425 screens (down from 666), followed by the coming-of-age American comedy "The Edge of Seventeen" starring Hailee Steinfeld and Woody Harrelson. From just 86 screens, director Kelly Fremon Craig's "The Edge of Seventeen" banked 26,358 admissions (1.62%) during its first weekend out in Korea. "The Villainess", by director Jung Byung-gil, has been in the top ten for four weeks now, and with the 19,835 admissions claimed here (1.2%), its bottom line moves to $8.4 million, or 1.1 million admissions.

The Chinese animation "Boonie Bears: Homeward Journey" and the local documentary "Our President" rounded out the weekend's top ten: the "Boonie Bears" opened its Korean account with 15,125 of the sales (0.79%), and "Our President"-which has been active in the chart since late May-added another 13,385 (0.77%). Lee Chang-jae's documentary, which followers former president Roy Moo-hyun, has now grossed a little over $12.5 million.

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2017.06.30 - 2017.07.02 (www.kobis.or.kr)

# Films Release date Week-end Total
1 "Anarchist from Colony" (박열) 2017/06/28 817 982 1 180 412
2 "Transformers: The Last Knight"   356 064 2 417 857
3 "Real" (리얼) 2017/06/28 165 108 373 673
4 "Okja" (옥자) 2017/06/29 88 455 116 641
5 "The Mummy"   40 606 3 661 193
6 "A Day - 2017" (하루) 2017/06/15 35 382 1 111 814
7 "The Edge of Seventeen"   26 358 38 911
8 "The Villainess" (악녀) 2017/06/08 19 835 1 192 841
9 "Boonie Bears: Homeward Journey"   15 125 16 462
10 "Our President" (노무현입니다) 2017/05/25 13 461 1 831 113
Korean movies only  
  "The Merciless" (불한당: 나쁜 놈들의 세상) 2017/05/17 2 006 931 635
  "Dancing with Jikji" (직지코드) 2017/06/28 1 424 3 224
  "Suh-Suh Pyoung, Slowly and Peacefully" (서서평, 천천히 평온하게) 2017/04/26 1 074 115 908
  "Jane" (꿈의 제인) 2017/05/31 664 22 761
  "No Preparation for Old Age" (노후 대책 없다) 2017/06/29 318 1 157
  "Warriors of the Dawn" (대립군) 2017/05/31 310 836 377
  "The Way - 2017" (길) 2017/05/11 300 16 173
  "'Joowoo and Hanbyul', 'My Chemical Love', 'A Letter from the Heart', 'The Distance between Us'" (주우와 한별,마이 케미컬 러브,마음의 편지,윤리거리규칙)   277 277
  "'Atonement', 'Different, Night', 'Trivial Matters'" (곰국,다른, 밤,시시콜콜한 이야기)   269 12 322

- Christopher Wheeler

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